- 1 1 ==8-- - ---- 4- _ ./- 1 - 1 - 1* 1, -5---- ME<~I11 i ]1 ~ -4*,Il, 2- ~ -4 1 -'- 1-1 ' :4-11 -=a ' 4-,41 -, |- n 1 -1'-1 1 '741 '1 r9.1 j _ ..4h, 41, 4 It, -~r* 16 -. 0. *1 ,£tr-=-- f.-f=cr I j~!r- - A--7- 1 C._, ___J -ER-=a 4_-·31;E·-Ze_ ~-i!;3& I 1 5 .t - - -- of fhe FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY THE FLORIDA PANTHER Puma concolor coryi: A MORPHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE SUBSPECIES WITH A COMPARISON TO OTHER NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAN COUGARS Laurie Wilkins, Julio M. Arias-Reveron, Bradley Stith, Melody E. Roelke, and Robert C. Belden Volume 40 34 3, pp. 211-269 1997 -3-*. '- 1 - ./ ··· 11'1 " ... El . *21· itn / - .1 -1 L X -=-1 ' . 4-- , '3-- f w - - k . -4 1 - 1--fpz=- 1- .* _--*14; 4 _ 4 -1=1=1; - -1 4 1 4 5.-4- UNIVERSiTY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE Numbers of the BULLETIN OF THE FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISrORY m published at irregular intervals. Volumes contain about 300 pages and are not necessarily completed in any one calendar year. JOHN F. EISENBERG, EDITOR RICHARD FRANZ, CO-EDITOR RHODA J. BRYANT, A£ANAGING EDITOR Communications concerning purchase or exchange of the publications and all manuscripts should be addressed to: Managing Editor, Bulletin; Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida P, 0. Box 117800, Gainesville FL 32611-7800; U.S.A This journal is printed on recycled paper. ISSN: 0071-6154 CODEN: BF 5BA5 Publication date: December 31, 1997 Price: $ 4.50 THE FLORmA PANTHER kma concolor cogi: A MORPHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE SUBSPECIES WITH A COMPARISON TO OTHER NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICAN COUGARS Laurie Wilkinsi, Julio M. Arias-Reveron2, Bradley M. Stith~, Melody E. Roelkei, and Robert C. Beldens ABSTRACT The endangered Florida panther, Puma concolor cogi, has been the subject of ecological and biomedical research, but little work has been done on the morphology of the subspecies. Interest in the morphologic characters that describe the Florida population has increased with the discovery of panthers outside their known range of southwestern Florida, the acquisition of many more specimens than were available to earlier researchers, and the first adult specimens and live captures from the Everglades The necessity to define morphologic features of Florida panthers also had law enforcement implications. Characters previously used to describe Puma concolor cogi were quantified and re-evaluated using statistical methods. All historic and recent specimens from the southeastern U.S. (n=79) were examined for pelage color, cranial profile and proportions, and other morphological hits. These specimens were compared to a sample ofNorth American and South American specimens. The characters measured provide a basis on which to describe the Florida population and discriminate between it and other subspecies. Specimens of panthers inhabiting the Everglades region differ from the balance of the Florida population in cranial morphology and other features, a result that is consistent with recent genetic research. There is no evidence to support a permanent geographic or ecological separation of Florida panthers into two populations. The best explanation for the observed morphological differences, consistent with historical inforination, is that the Everglades panthers are descendants of captive-released animals and may be hybrids. The extent to which other Florida panthers may have been affected by this possible hybridization cannot be detected with the current analytical methods. Most specimens recovered in the last 20 years from southwest Florida exhibit the classic P. concolor cory, morphologic features. 1 Florida Museum of-Natural History, University of Florida (UF), Gainesville FL 32611-MOO, USA 2 Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica, Centro de Investigacion y Desarrodo en Agricult rra Sostenible para el Tropico Humedo (CIDAS% Apartado 223-4400, Ciudad Quesada, San Cdos, Costa Rica (fonnerly: Univemity of Florida, IFAS Ci~us Research and Education Center. 700 Experiment Station Road, Lake Alfred FL 33830, U.SA 3 Department of Wildtife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611, U.SA 4 Genetics Laboratory, Na8onal Cancer Institute, Fredmick MD 21702, U.SA (formedy with the Flotida Game and Fresh Water Comrnission). 6 Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commissionl 4005 South Main Street Gainesville FL 32601, U.SA Wilkins, L,J. M. Arias-Reveron, B. M. Stith. M. E. Roelke, E C. Belden. 1997. The Florida panther Puma concolor cogi: A morphological investigation ofthe subspecies with a comparison to other North and South American cougars. Bull. Florida Mus. Nat. Hist 40(3):221-269. 222 BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL 40(3) RESUMEN La pantera de Florida, Puma concolor cool, amenazada dc extinsi64 ha sido objeto de estudios ecoldgicos y biomudicos, pew poco se ha hecho acerca de la morfologia dc mis subespecies. El interes en los caracteres morfolagicos que describen la poblaci6n de Florida se ha incrementado con el des¢ubrimiento de panteras fuera de su rango conocido en el sudoeste de Florida, la adquicisidn de mas especimenes (que antcs no estaban disponibles a previos investigadores) y los primeros especimenes y capturas vivas provenientes de los Everglades. La necesidad de definir cancteristicas subespecificas de las panteras de Florida tiene tambien implicancias legales Los caractercs previamente utilizados para describir Puma concolor cogi fueron cuantificados y re-evaluados usando m6todos estadisticos. En todos los especimenes historicas y recientes del sudeste de los E.E.U.U. (n=79) se examinaron el color de pelo, perfil cranial, proporciones y otros rasgos morfoldgica Estos especimenes, fueron comparados con una muestra representativa de Norte y Sudamerica. Los caracteres medidos proporcionaron la base para la descripci6n de la poblaci6n de Florida y para su descriminaci6n dentro y entre otras subespecies. 1~ especimenes de pantera que viven en la regidn de los Everglades difieren del resto de la poblaci6n de Florida en su morfologia cranial y otras caracteristical hallazgo consistente con recientes investigaciones genaticas. No existen evidencias que soporten una separacian geogrAfica o ecoldgica de la pantera de Florida en dos poblaciones. La mejor explicaci6n de las diferencias morfo16gicas observadas. consistente con la informaci6n histbrica, es que las panteras de los Everglades son descendientes de animales de cautiverio liberados y que por 10 tanto scrian hibridos. Con este maodo analitico no se puede detactar hasta que punto otras panteras de Florida podrian haber sido afectados por esta hibridaci6n- La mayoria de los especimenes provenientes del sudoeste de Florida recuperados en los ditimos veinte aitos, exhiben los clasicos rasgos morfol6gicos de P. concolor coryi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introdur,inn 223 Acknowledgments 224 Abbreviatinne 225 TaxonomicSynonymy ofPuma concolor coryi 225 Historical Distribution. 226 Methods 227 Pelage r.ir- 230 Pelage Characters and Kit)ked Tail 235 Cranial Profile 240 Cranial Proporti,-9 247 Discussion and Conclusion. 230 Literature Cited 254 Appenli;re« 257 WILKINS ET AL: FLORIDA PANTHER MORPHOLOGY 223 INTRODUCTION The puma (Puma concolor) has the most extensive distribution of all American carnivores (Cabrera and Yepes 1960). At one time, the range of species covered almost the entire North and South American continents from northern British Columbia to Patagonia, and it was found in virtually every habitat from high mountains to tropical swamps (Young 1946). Consistent with this broad distribution, the species exhibits considerable geographic variation, and 30 subspecies have been recognized (Goldman 1946). The Florida panther OP. c. coryi) once ranged the southeastern states from Louisiana throughout the lower Mississippi River Valley east through the southeastern states. Historically, its distribution was continuous and intergraded with other populations to the north and west (Goldman 1946). It has been isolated for at least the past 100 years in the wild lands of south Florida (Bangs 1899) as human settlement patterns caused the decimation of adjacent cougar populations. Current population estimates vary between 30 and 80 individuals in the Big Cypress and Everglades ecosystems (Belden 1986a, Maehr 1997). This study reviews the morphological characters of the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi).It examines color, cranial morphology and pelage features of the subspecies in the context of the geographic variation expressed by the species throughout its range. The Florida panther was discovered and named a subspecies by Charles Cory (1896). Since that time, there have been only a few published accounts that provide descriptive information (Bangs 1898, 1899, Nelson and Goldman 1929, Goldman 1946, Layne and McCauley 1977, Lazell 1981, Belden 1986b). Specimens of cougars from the southeast have always been rare. At the time of Goldman's comprehensive taxonomic review (1946), only 17 P. c. coryi museum specimens were available, including three from Louisiana and 14 from Florida. Layne and McCauley (1977) published weights and measurements for an additional 15 individuals from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Florida; however, only five had been preserved as museum specimens. The need to describe the panther in Florida with a suitable suite of morphological characters has become more important in the last 15 years with (1) the recovery of panthers from areas outside their known range in Florida, (2) the probability of escaped or released captive cats of other subspecies into Florida environment, and (3) problems of verification in law enforcement issues. In 1986, cats in the Everglades were captured for the first time with the initiation of a radio-telemetry study (Smith and Bass 1994). It was noted that the Everglades cats differed from the panthers in the Big Cypress in size and overall appearance and in the absence of the two physical traits that had been documented in the Big Cypress population; namely, the kinked tail and a mid-dorsal cowlick, or whorl (Belden 19864 Roelke 1990, Wilkins and Belden, unpubl. data). Genetic studies revealed that free-ranging panthers in Florida consist of two genetically distinct stocks that had evolved separately (O'Brien et al.